Plant drug cultivation: importance of pharmacognosy in herbal industry MCQs With Answer

Introduction: Plant drug cultivation and pharmacognosy form the backbone of a reliable herbal industry. For M.Pharm students, understanding cultivation practices, genetic selection, and post-harvest handling is essential to ensure consistent phytochemical profiles, safety and regulatory compliance. Pharmacognosy provides the analytical tools—macroscopy, microscopy, chromatographic fingerprinting and molecular authentication—to identify, standardize and prevent adulteration of botanicals. This blog-style MCQ set focuses on advanced concepts such as Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP), cultivation strategies for maximizing active constituents, conservation, biosynthetic modulation and quality assurance. These questions are designed to test applied knowledge relevant to research, industry quality control, and regulatory responsibilities in herbal drug development.

Q1. What is the primary objective of Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP) for medicinal plants?

• To maximize crop yield regardless of phytochemical content
• To ensure quality, safety and traceability of herbal materials from cultivation to collection
• To standardize industrial extraction methods
• To replace traditional knowledge with synthetic substitutes

Correct Answer: To ensure quality, safety and traceability of herbal materials from cultivation to collection

Q2. Which cultivation approach is most suitable to maintain genetic uniformity for producing consistent phytochemical profiles in a commercial herbal crop?

• Open-pollinated seed propagation
• Clonal propagation via cuttings or micropropagation
• Mixed population planting from diverse provenances
• Random wild collection

Correct Answer: Clonal propagation via cuttings or micropropagation

Q3. Which post-harvest factor most significantly affects the stability of heat-sensitive secondary metabolites during processing?

• Ambient soil pH during cultivation
• Drying temperature and drying rate
• Light intensity in the nursery stage
• Use of nitrogenous fertilizers

Correct Answer: Drying temperature and drying rate

Q4. Pharmacognostic microscopic analysis is primarily used in the herbal industry to:

• Quantify total alkaloid content accurately
• Authenticate plant identity and detect adulteration at tissue level
• Measure moisture content of dried herbs
• Determine optimal harvesting season

Correct Answer: Authenticate plant identity and detect adulteration at tissue level

Q5. Which molecular technique is most appropriate for unequivocal species-level authentication of a powdered herbal raw material?

• Microscopic starch grain examination
• DNA barcoding using standardized loci (e.g., rbcL, matK, ITS)
• Thin layer chromatography (TLC) profile
• Phytochemical colorimetric assays

Correct Answer: DNA barcoding using standardized loci (e.g., rbcL, matK, ITS)

Q6. Elicitation in plant cell culture is used to:

• Reduce secondary metabolite production to minimize toxicity
• Enhance production of target secondary metabolites by applying biotic or abiotic stimuli
• Increase seed germination rate in the field
• Sterilize culture media

Correct Answer: Enhance production of target secondary metabolites by applying biotic or abiotic stimuli

Q7. Which agronomic practice most directly influences terpenoid concentration in aromatic medicinal plants?

• Timing of harvest relative to plant phenology
• Depth of irrigation pipelines
• Selection of herbicide brand
• Type of transport vehicle used

Correct Answer: Timing of harvest relative to plant phenology

Q8. Chromatographic fingerprinting (HPTLC/HPLC) in pharmacognosy is primarily applied to:

• Visualize plant anatomical features
• Compare phytochemical profiles for standardization and batch-to-batch consistency
• Measure soil nutrient levels
• Calculate stomatal density

Correct Answer: Compare phytochemical profiles for standardization and batch-to-batch consistency

Q9. Which conservation strategy balances commercial cultivation and protection of wild medicinal plant populations?

• Exclusive wild harvesting with increasing quotas
• Domestication and cultivation with community-based sustainable harvesting plans
• Complete ban on cultivation to preserve wild types
• Exporting seed material without local training

Correct Answer: Domestication and cultivation with community-based sustainable harvesting plans

Q10. Seed certification in medicinal plant cultivation is important because it ensures:

• Guaranteed prevention of all pests
• Genetic identity, purity and germination standards for predictable crop performance
• Higher market price regardless of quality
• Resistance to all environmental stressors

Correct Answer: Genetic identity, purity and germination standards for predictable crop performance

Q11. Which factor is least likely to cause variability in active constituent levels between two cultivation sites of the same species?

• Soil micronutrient composition
• Altitude and microclimate
• Distance to nearest market
• Photoperiod and light intensity

Correct Answer: Distance to nearest market

Q12. In the context of herbal industry quality control, a pharmacognosy expert is NOT typically responsible for:

• Macroscopic and microscopic identification of raw plant materials
• Developing chromatographic fingerprints for standardization
• Designing community outreach marketing campaigns
• Adulterant detection and recommendations for corrective actions

Correct Answer: Designing community outreach marketing campaigns

Q13. Which cultivation technique is most effective to shorten the juvenile phase and induce early flowering in medicinal shrubs for seed production?

• Continuous shading throughout growth
• Application of appropriate plant growth regulators (e.g., gibberellins) and pruning
• Excessive nitrogen fertilization only
• Complete waterlogging of fields

Correct Answer: Application of appropriate plant growth regulators (e.g., gibberellins) and pruning

Q14. Which analytical approach integrates metabolite profiling to correlate cultivation variables with bioactive compound levels?

• Histochemical staining
• Metabolomics using LC-MS or NMR coupled with multivariate analysis
• Seed viability testing
• Soil texture analysis

Correct Answer: Metabolomics using LC-MS or NMR coupled with multivariate analysis

Q15. Sustainable wild collection guidelines recommend which practice to avoid depletion of medicinal plant populations?

• Harvesting entire roots of slow-growing perennials indiscriminately
• Selective harvesting of plant parts, rotation of collection sites and seasonal restrictions
• Harvesting at any time to meet market demand
• Burning residual vegetation to facilitate regrowth

Correct Answer: Selective harvesting of plant parts, rotation of collection sites and seasonal restrictions

Q16. Which parameter is critical to record during harvest to ensure reproducible pharmacological activity of a batch of herbal raw material?

• Number of workers involved in harvest only
• Date/time of harvest and plant phenological stage
• Color of harvesting tools
• Distance from field to main road

Correct Answer: Date/time of harvest and plant phenological stage

Q17. Which of the following best describes chemotaxonomy and its relevance to pharmacognosy?

• Use of soil chemistry alone to classify plant families
• Classification of plants based on their chemical constituents to assist identification and selection of medicinal taxa
• A method to increase alkaloid synthesis through fertilizers
• An ethno-botanical practice unrelated to chemistry

Correct Answer: Classification of plants based on their chemical constituents to assist identification and selection of medicinal taxa

Q18. Which drying method is recommended for thermolabile glycosides to preserve activity and prevent degradation?

• High-temperature direct sun drying for extended periods
• Shade drying with controlled airflow or low-temperature oven drying
• Microwave drying at maximum power
• Leaving harvested material in sealed wet bags

Correct Answer: Shade drying with controlled airflow or low-temperature oven drying

Q19. Which regulatory aspect must manufacturers demonstrate to regulatory authorities regarding cultivated botanical raw materials?

• Only the country of origin without traceability
• Traceability, identity, absence of adulteration, and evidence of Good Agricultural and Collection Practices where applicable
• That wild collection is cheaper
• That they changed cultivation practices annually without records

Correct Answer: Traceability, identity, absence of adulteration, and evidence of Good Agricultural and Collection Practices where applicable

Q20. How can integrated pest management (IPM) benefit cultivation of medicinal plants intended for phytopharmaceutical production?

• By promoting indiscriminate pesticide use to eliminate all pests
• By minimizing chemical residues, preserving beneficial organisms, and maintaining product safety and regulatory acceptability
• By guaranteeing zero pest incidence through genetic modification only
• By delaying harvest to allow pest population growth for research

Correct Answer: By minimizing chemical residues, preserving beneficial organisms, and maintaining product safety and regulatory acceptability

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