Biotechnology: A Tool for Sustainable Agriculture

Selective breeding has been made possible due to the application of biotechnology to crops.

FREMONT, CA: The application of biotech in crop species has generally involved making use of selective breeding to generate an exchange of genetic material among two parent plants in order to give rise to offspring who possess desirable characteristics such as disease resistance, increased yield, and improved product quality. The interchanging genetic material through unconventional breeding necessitates that the two plants that are cross-bred should be of the same species, or at the very least, must be closely related. The increased amount of such active plant breeding has resulted in the creation of superior plant variants, far more quickly than it would have taken random mating to produce. However, the traditional methods used in gene exchanges are restricted to crosses among the same or closely related species, and it can take an extended period to achieve the necessary results, and more often than not, interesting characteristics are not present in any related species.

The use of modern biotechnology, however, increases the accuracy of the production of such species and decreases the required time with which the changes in plant characteristics can be generated, and therefore, causes a spike in potential sources from which desirable traits can be obtained.

Development of Biotechnology Products

The new and improved advancements in the field of agricultural biotechnology are created to boost the productivity of crops, which primarily can be done by decreasing the costs of production by reducing the requirements for inputs of pesticides, mostly in crops which are grown in temperate regions. By making use of the technology, the quality of life of plants by creating new strains of plants that offer higher yields with lesser amounts of inputs, which can be grown in different types of environments, provide improved rotations to conserve natural resources, provide high nutritiously harvested products that can be kept for a longer period in storage and in transport, and continue providing reduced cost food supplies to consumers.

The new advancements in the field of gene technology coils be useful to resolve issues concerning agriculture, human healthcare, and also the environment, especially in underdeveloped countries, if given the opportunity. Until presently, the larger portion of research and development efforts made by the private sector in biotechnology has been to create opportunities for the introduction of traits that will be useful to the producers in the market, specifically in industrial countries, as these are the areas in which the bioscience organisation will be able to recoup their investments.

The applications of biotechnology in the field of agriculture are still in their initial stages. Genetically engineered plants are modified only for a single trait. The progress being made in the field, however, is rapid, and the advancements in the field of genomics may also improve plant breeding, as more functional genes continue to be identified.