Advantages and Drawbacks Of Agricultural Biotechnology.

Agricultural technology is employed to alter plants and organisms to improve their traits.

FREMONT, CA: Agricultural technology uses organisms and living systems to develop human products, including techniques like genetic engineering, tissue culture, molecular diagnostics, and molecular markers. 

Advantages of Agricultural Biotechnology

The application of biotechnology in agriculture has numerous benefits. They enclose nutritional quality improvement, crop growth enhancement, and pesticide use minimization. Biotechnology has been used effectively in the genetic engineering of plants and animals.

1. Advancement of Nutritional Quality 

The application of biotechnology in crop production enhances the nutritional content of agricultural products, such as the percentage of vitamins and other nutrients increases. In this respect, the dietary quality of food products is bettered. 

2. Betterment of Good Quality

Biotechnology promotes the propagation of good quality in plants and animals. It has been employed to create animals with traits like fast growth and growing resistance to disease. For illustration, cloning the growth hormone gene in cattle has been done to raise milk production in dairy cows. Low temperatures and high atmospheric pressure make specific climates unfit for crop growth. Yet, the application of biotechnology conquers these challenges, and crops can be cultivated in all climates. Scientists change the reactions of plants to extreme climates by inserting specific genes. 

3. Detraction of Pesticide Application

Pesticide application can be reduced by designing crops resistant to diseases and pests. Bettered resistance improves growth and boosts food production. The lessening of excessive chemical application lessens the expense of production and raises yields. Moreover, it lowers water and soil pollution since employing chemicals in agriculture is one of the major causes of environmental pollution.

Drawbacks of Agricultural Biotechnology

Despite Agricultural biotechnology's advantages, It also has many drawbacks. They enclose potential environmental and health effects, the risk of a drop in biodiversity, and an adverse environmental effect. Biotechnology has not been completely embraced as a mitigation tactic for food insecurity.

1. Health Effects on Human 

Agricultural biotechnology has been in customs for a comparatively brief time. Hence, it is hard to define its possible environmental and health effects. There are various opinions about this problem, as experts are uncertain of the health effects of genetically altered products on human beings. Genetic engineering incorporates the use of antibiotic-resistant genes as markers. Including these genes in a plant's genome could be detrimental to health as they could lower the effectiveness of antibiotics. The resistance gene could also be moved to pathogens and grow their resistance to antibiotics.

2. A Decline in Biodiversity

Biotechnology includes taking genes with required traits from one organism and embedding them into another to better its qualities. Farmers can give up certain crop varieties if they find others simple to grow and provide high yields. Modified crops could be preferred over conventional varieties with slow growth and low yields. Loss of biodiversity damages the environment by changing the ecosystem and raising the risk of climate change.

3. Adverse Effect on the Environment

Agricultural biotechnology is at its start, and its environmental impacts are unfamiliar. Still, research has revealed that it may cause the proliferation of herbicide-resistant weeds. Genetic engineering includes the transfer of certain genes between organisms. In that respect, the technology could move unwanted genes into weeds and pests, making them harder to eradicate. Moreover, it may create new microorganisms, like bacteria and viruses, by transferring genes that make them more virulent. Genetically engineered plants generate new products, like proteins, that might be toxic to wildlife.