The taste of oranges is adversely affected by ...

Question

The taste of oranges is adversely affected by even a slight irregularity in rainfall. To alleviate this dependency, farmers add a special type of fertilizer which helps in maintaining the taste of oranges. However, the fertilizer reduces the size of the fruits, which in turn reduces people’s desire to buy them. The use of fertilizers can be minimized or even eliminated if the trees are provided a certain minimum amount of water. However, as the weather department cannot predict the amount of rainfall with certainty, the farmers take the preemptive measure of using fertilizers and hope that customers would buy their oranges.
Which one of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?

A) Variation in the amount of fertilizers given to orange trees can adversely affect the taste of oranges.
B) The customers prefer buying smaller oranges over buying tasteless oranges.
C) It is not possible to provide irrigation to trees to ensure minimum possible water supply in the case of uncertainty in rainfall.
D) The weather department lacks the expertise to provide the required accurate information regarding rainfall.
E) The farmers are not likely to achieve the best combination of size and taste of oranges.

Akshit1 · Accepted Answer

A) Variation in the amount of fertilizers given to orange trees can adversely affect the taste of oranges.--In question it is given that rain can adversely affect the taste not fertilizers .

B) The customers prefer buying smaller oranges over buying tasteless oranges.-- It is not certain just the hope of farmers, so can not conclude it.

C) It is not possible to provide irrigation to trees to ensure minimum possible water supply in the case of uncertainty in rainfall.--It is a assumption that can be made from the question not the inference.

D) The weather department lacks the expertise to provide the required accurate information regarding rainfall.--same error as in option C

E) The farmers are not likely to achieve the best combination of size and taste of oranges.-- This can be inferred from the careful reading of question as if we use fertilizers SIZE will be reduced and if rain is irregular TASTE is affected.

kudos plz if u think this explanation is helpful

RITESH24 · Answer

I think if it is clearly mentioned that farmers took preemptive measures to use fertilizers- then oranges will be obviously small even if the rain comes so it might not be the best combination BECAUSE oranges will be either small and good in taste (given proper rainfall) or small and bad in taste (given irregular rainfall) 
IN BOTH THE CASES ABOVE BEST COMBINATION IS NOT LIKELY THAT IS GOOD SIZE AND GOOD TASTE

Rajdeep1989 · Answer

A - cannot be certainly said from the passage.

B - irerlevant and silly option. Eliminated on first read.

C - sounds like a inference, lets keep this in the cart for later.

D - Already said in the passage and so it cant be inference. Inference is something we should derive from the passage.

E - sounds good again. Because basically the challenge for the farmers is to deal with the deficit of rainfall and maintain size aNd taste of the orange.

So its battle between E and C.

But there is a clear flaw in C. It says "if there is uncertainty of rainfall" then bla bla bla....and the weather dept is already an award winning failed one. So talkibg about certainty and uncertainty of rain is utter foolish here.

Hence E Bingo!!!

Posted from my mobile device

CaptainMeow · Answer

Why isn't C a better choice as compared to choice E ?

sssanskaar · Answer

This is an amazing question. Options C and E are really close.

But option C says that it is not possible to provide irrigation to the trees. But what if providing irrigation is possible but still let's say it is super-costly to do so? And that's why farmers are not doing the same? We can't know for sure because the argument does not address the reasons. Hence, option C is incorrect.

AbhishekDhanraJ72 · Answer

Some experts please explain why C is wrong? Can an assumption be inference too?

Posted from my mobile device

AE11 · Answer

@MartyTTP why is C Incorrect?

My 2 final choices were C & E.

AnkitNandwani1 · Answer

Alright, let’s tackle this step by step.

1. Breaking down the argument
 
 Taste is hurt by irregular rainfall. 
 Fertilizer fixes taste but reduces fruit size → reduces demand. 
 Fertilizer use could be reduced if trees got a minimum water supply. 
 But since rainfall is uncertain, farmers  still use fertilizer preemptively , hoping customers buy.
  Key insight : Farmers can’t guarantee both good taste and large size → tradeoff problem.

2. Prethinking
We’re asked for what can be inferred.
 
 Fertilizer fixes taste but ruins size. 
 No reliable way to ensure irrigation (otherwise they’d use it instead of fertilizer). 
 Farmers end up with neither ideal size nor ideal taste.  
So the likely inference: farmers cannot achieve the  best combination of size and taste .

3. Evaluating answer choices
   Answer Choice 
 Evaluation 
 
   A) "Variation in the amount of fertilizers given to orange trees can adversely affect the taste of oranges."  
 Not supported. Passage only says fertilizer helps taste but reduces size. Nothing about variation worsening taste. 
 
   B) "The customers prefer buying smaller oranges over buying tasteless oranges."  
 Not supported. Farmers “hope” customers buy smaller ones, but no evidence about actual preference. 
 
   C) "It is not possible to provide irrigation to trees to ensure minimum possible water supply in the case of uncertainty in rainfall."  
 Passage says “fertilizer use can be minimized/eliminated if trees are provided a minimum water supply,” but doesn’t rule out irrigation. It’s just not mentioned. Too strong. 
 
   D) "The weather department lacks the expertise to provide the required accurate information regarding rainfall."  
 Passage only says rainfall “cannot be predicted with certainty,” which is different from lack of expertise. Too extreme. 
 
   E) "The farmers are not likely to achieve the best combination of size and taste of oranges."  
 Yes. Fertilizer ensures taste but reduces size, and irrigation isn’t reliably ensured due to rainfall uncertainty. Farmers are forced to compromise. This matches the passage.

4. Final Answer
 E) "The farmers are not likely to achieve the best combination of size and taste of oranges."

mkeshri185 · Answer

I did not get why E is correct and C is wrong? E says farmers are unlikely to achieve both SIZE and TASTE but that is only in the case of low rainfall. But we don't know whether the rainfall is actually low or not..... What if the weather is all good ? The trees getting enough water?

Pratyaksh1907 · Answer

Alright! Let's focus on answer choice analysis for this one.

A) Variation in the amount of fertilizers given to orange trees can adversely affect the taste of oranges.
   There is no linkage of fertilizers with the taste of the oranges mentioned on the argument. It only affects the size.
 
 B) The customers prefer buying smaller oranges over buying tasteless oranges.
   We don't know about customer preference. Farmers only hope that customers would buy smaller oranges.
 
 C) It is not possible to provide irrigation to trees to ensure minimum possible water supply in the case of uncertainty in rainfall.
   Just because irrigation is not mentioned in the argument, we cannot infer that it is not possible.
 
 D) The weather department lacks the expertise to provide the required accurate information regarding rainfall.
   All we know is that the weather department cannot predict with certainty. There could be various reasons apart from 'lack of expertise' because of which weather department's information is uncertain.
 
 E) The farmers are not likely to achieve the best combination of size and taste of oranges.
    Yep! Since fertilizers will decrease the size and weather report is uncertain, so the farmers will use fertilizers that can lead to oranges with not a very best combination of size and taste.

Hope it helps,
Thanks   :)

The taste of oranges is adversely affected by ...

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Answer Choice	Evaluation
A) "Variation in the amount of fertilizers given to orange trees can adversely affect the taste of oranges."	Not supported. Passage only says fertilizer helps taste but reduces size. Nothing about variation worsening taste.
B) "The customers prefer buying smaller oranges over buying tasteless oranges."	Not supported. Farmers “hope” customers buy smaller ones, but no evidence about actual preference.
C) "It is not possible to provide irrigation to trees to ensure minimum possible water supply in the case of uncertainty in rainfall."	Passage says “fertilizer use can be minimized/eliminated if trees are provided a minimum water supply,” but doesn’t rule out irrigation. It’s just not mentioned. Too strong.
D) "The weather department lacks the expertise to provide the required accurate information regarding rainfall."	Passage only says rainfall “cannot be predicted with certainty,” which is different from lack of expertise. Too extreme.
E) "The farmers are not likely to achieve the best combination of size and taste of oranges."	Yes. Fertilizer ensures taste but reduces size, and irrigation isn’t reliably ensured due to rainfall uncertainty. Farmers are forced to compromise. This matches the passage.

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