Official Answer Key & Detailed Solution
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Correct Answer: Option (B) — 2 and 3 only
Concept & Option Breakdown
Standard Reference VerifiedItem 1 is incorrect: Budding and grafting are traditional horticultural propagation techniques that join plant tissues without modifying or inserting recombinant DNA.
Item 2 is correct: Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) systems, including transgenic/engineered CMS systems, are utilized in genetic modification and hybrid crop breeding.
Item 3 is correct: Gene silencing techniques (such as RNA interference - RNAi) are central biotechnological tools used to produce transgenic plants with targeted trait expression or pest resistance.
Grafting is an ancient vegetative propagation method, not a recombinant DNA or transgenic technique. Eliminating 1 leaves (b) and (d).
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