Nitrobacter, a bacteria living in the roots of bean plants or other

Question

Nitrobacter, a bacteria living in the roots of bean plants or other legumes, produces fixed nitrogen which is one of the essential plant nutrients and which for non-legume crops, such as wheat, normally, must be supplied by applications of nitrogen-based fertilizer. So if biotechnology succeeds in producing wheat strains whose roots will play host to Nitrobacter, the need for artificial fertilizers will be reduced.

The argument above makes which one of the following assumptions?

A Biotechnology should be directed toward producing plants that do not require artificial fertilizer.
B Fixed nitrogen is currently the only soil nutrient that must be supplied by artificial fertilizer for growing wheat crops.
C There are no naturally occurring strains of wheat or other grasses that have Nitrobacter living in their roots.
D Legumes are currently the only crops that produce their own supply of fixed nitrogen.
E Nitrobacter living in the roots of wheat would produce fixed nitrogen.

Source:Crackverbal

Leo8 · Answer

Nitrobacter,  a bacteria living in the roots of bean plants or other legumes , produces fixed nitrogen which is one of the essential plant nutrients and which for non-legume crops, such as wheat, normally, must be supplied by applications of nitrogen-based fertilizer. So if biotechnology succeeds in producing  wheat strains whose roots will play host to Nitrobacter , the need for artificial fertilizers will be reduced.

The argument above makes which one of the following assumptions?

Roots of legumes are compared with the roots of non legumes. What if the roots of non legumes does not support the production of nitrogen even after hosting nictrobacter?

E points exactly the same.

A Biotechnology should be directed toward producing plants that do not require artificial fertilizer.
B Fixed nitrogen is currently the only soil nutrient that must be supplied by artificial fertilizer for growing wheat crops.
C There are no naturally occurring strains of wheat or other grasses that have Nitrobacter living in their roots.
D Legumes are currently the only crops that produce their own supply of fixed nitrogen.
E Nitrobacter living in the roots of wheat would produce fixed nitrogen.

priyankakosaraju · Answer

If Nitrogen is not the only nutrient that must be supplied by the artificial fertilerzers and some other nutrients must also be by them ,how would use of artificial fertilizers reduce?

Can Someone please explain

Masterscorp · Answer

Hi priyankakosaraju , it isn't really a problem that there could be other fertilizers because we don't have any information about them. I would say that as long as it isn't mentioned that there usage changes we can assume that their usage is constant. So if their usage remains the same and the usage of the nitrogen-based fertilizer shrinks we still would have a decrease in fertilizer usage. Does that help?

ruchik789 · Answer

I am confused between C and E. 
E gives better reasoning and works with negation rule but somehow C is also good enough to be a candidate.
Can someone tell me why to rule out C

Leo8 · Answer

Can you tell for sure that naturally occurring strains of wheat or other grasses that have Nitrobacter living in their roots  will produce Nitrogen  ?

You will again need the assumption that nictrobcater in wheat will produce Nitrogen.

What if the other contents living in the roots restrict the production of nitrogen. To me C is an alternative way to get nictrobacter in the roots of Wheat but not necessarily gurantees the production of nitrogen.

push12345 · Answer

We need to argue whether nictobactor presence in wheat(non legumes) will reduce use of fertilizers or not

C says there Are no naturally occurring strains in wheat- we are not concerned with this whether they have it or not from previously

We just need to know whether nictobactor presence will help to reduce fertilizers .C doesn't address this concern

Give kudos if it helps

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Saharsh95 · Answer

Think of it this way. If X is an artificial fertilizer which is primarily used to supply nitrogen (artificially) and other nutrients (such as Calcium etc.) which are not really needed to be absorbed artificially and are rather available in the soil naturally. Thus, upon negating the Option B, even if there are other such fertilizers (such as calcium used in my example), they don't create any reliability on fertilizers or their increased use as they are still available in the soil naturally. Hence, we cannot break the conclusion for sure.

Also take note of the word "essential" used exclusively for nitrogen. That also creates one more possibility that the other nutrients supplied by fertilizer may not be as essential in producing good quality wheat crops (maybe their absence does not have a significant impact).

In assumption questions, we must look for options that break the conclusion totally if they are negated. Even if there is the slightest doubt about the conclusion not being broken, the option choice should not be selected.

Crytiocanalyst · Answer

A Biotechnology should be directed toward producing plants that do not require artificial fertilizer.
We are not ina position to determine whether biotechnology is already inclined and no requirement further direction

B Fixed nitrogen is currently the only soil nutrient that must be supplied by artificial fertilizer for growing wheat crops.
We are also not given enough information about the same it could be that natural fertilizers are also required

C There are no naturally occurring strains of wheat or other grasses that have Nitrobacter living in their roots.
We are not in aposition to comment thesame

D Legumes are currently the only crops that produce their own supply of fixed nitrogen.
Same argument as C

E Nitrobacter living in the roots of wheat would produce fixed nitrogen.
This is a valid point otherwise it is pointless as of developing the same

VerbalBot · Answer

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Nitrobacter, a bacteria living in the roots of bean plants or other

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