5.5 Yeast in Production of Beer

• The beer is largely ethanol which is produced by glucose.
• Glucose is broken down into ethanol and carbon dioxide by anaerobic respiration
• the microorganism that does this is Yeast, it is able to supply the enzymes to bring about this conversion
• Ethanol is flavored by the additional glands such as the Hops flavor.
• Glucose comes from the starch which is converted into maltose and then into glucose first by the enzyme amylase and then by the enzyme maltose 
• The source of the starch is barley seed or wheat seeds, starch is broken down by the amylase through the germination of the seed and this is a process called 'Malting' 

5.4a Pesticides

• Large fields of crops at the same time is called a Mono culture.
• Mono culture are very susceptible to pests, which use the crop as food sources, which reduces the productivity of farming, loss of food and financial income
• Pesticides - chemicals which are designed to kill the pest.
• Advantages: easy to obtain, easy to apply and very effective.
• Disadvantages: Toxic can kill other plants and animals and may be poisonous to humans, bio accumulation, this can cause problems for animals in higher trophic levels, mutation in the pests leads to resistance which leads to higher concentrations. 

5.3 Fertilizers

• Achieved in farming by the application of fertilizers
• These normally take the form of Nitrate's or phosphate and frequently a combination of both
• These compounds go down into the soil and taken up the root structure and then moved in the transpiration stream up to the leaf and used in the leaf for the construction of proteins from nitrate and phosphate for DNA membrane.
• Fertilizers can be divided into two groups known as organic and artificial
• organic fertilizers and from animal waste like cow faeces after going through the process of decomposition and fermentation the farmer collects it, forms one of the compounds and substances known as slurry this applies to the fields giving the crop plant a supply of nitrate and phosphate to promote growth.
• Artificial fertilizers take the form of chemicals, which is synthetically produced e.g potassium nitrate and ammonium nitrate and this can be bought as a solution to be put in the soil water which will have the same effect. 

5.2 Crop yield

• The rate of photosynthesis is the combination of CO2 and water with the presence of light, this is an enzyme reaction
• This results in the production of glucose and oxygen.
• The glucose is then turned into starch.
• CO2 is the substrate, the rate of photosynthesis will increase as the concentration of CO2 increases
• As you increase the temperature, we get an increase in the rate of reaction and the yield increases, but then we hit the peak which corresponds to the temperature (optimum temperature) 
• Increasing temperature in a greenhouse also has other effects like avoiding frost damage, and providing constant temperatures which contribute to the increase in yield

5.1 Increasing yield

5.1 describe how glasshouses and polythene tunnels can be used to increase the yield of certain crops 


Due to the fact that inside of a greenhouse, its is possible to control factors such as moisture in the air or heat of the air, these factors can be set in order to best suit a particular crop. Because the these factors are varied to the best conditions for the crop it will then result in a much better yield of certain crop.

• The glass house can provide protection for the crops from the environment 
• Fertilizing the crop
• Adjusting the water levels
• Keeping room at best temperature  
• adjusting the Carbon Dioxide levels
• These factors are all adjusted or controlled to maximize yield