A plethora of unfavorable factors can negatively impact crop yields, prompting the question: What is the role of biotechnology in enhancing crop production efficiency today? Delicate cultivated plants often suffer from various issues such as:
– rodents;
– weeds;
– nematodes;
– insect pests;
– viruses;
– bacteria;
– plant pathogenic fungi;
– adverse weather conditions;
– soil erosion.
The Significance of Biotechnology in Crop Production
Due to population growth and its demands, biotechnology has become indispensable in modern crop production. Biotechnology’s application in crop production can be divided into two main areas:
– Genetic modification, involving the introduction of genes from foreign organisms, resulting in genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
– Leveraging natural resources, such as using extracts from fungi and plants, and high-performing microorganisms.
Biotechnology in crop production has led to the development of several products that can address various challenges faced by agricultural producers. Based on their intended use, biological products can be categorized into:
– plant growth regulators;
– plant protection products;
– yield-increasing agents.
Despite the active promotion of GMO products, economically developed countries are often cautious about expanding their consumption, preferring biotechnologies that utilize microorganisms. However, many global companies use GMOs, not only in crop production but also in various other activities.
Methods of Plant Protection
Biotechnological methods of protecting agricultural plants from damaging factors include:
– Breeding varieties resistant to unfavorable factors.
– Using chemical control agents (herbicides, pesticides, raticides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides).
– Biological pest control methods that use their natural parasites, enemies, or toxic substances released by living organisms.
Increasing Plant Productivity
Equally important is the task of:
– Enhancing crop productivity.
– Increasing the nutritional value of crops.
– Breeding varieties capable of growing in swampy or dry areas, on saline soils.
The goal is to enhance the energy output of processes occurring in plant tissues (absorption of light energy, carbon dioxide, water-salt metabolism).
Examples of Real Progress in Biotechnology:
– In Australia, crop biotechnology has produced eucalyptus trees (red gum trees) capable of growing in saline soil by cultivating cell clones in vitro. The expectation is that eucalyptus roots will extract water from the ground and lower the level of salty groundwater, thereby decreasing the salinity of the upper soil layers, with rainwater streams displacing the salt into deeper layers.
– In Malaysia, an oil palm was grown from a cell clone that is more resistant to phytopathogens and produces 20-30% more oil.
– Cell cloning, screening, and subsequent plant regeneration from selected clones will be an important technique for improving tree species (e.g., conifers) growing in temperate latitudes.
– Plants grown from meristem tissues or cells, such as strawberries, asparagus, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, pineapples, peaches, bananas, etc., are now commonplace.
– Scientists hope to combat viral plant diseases through cell cloning. Methods have been developed to obtain plant regenerants from apical buds, which are then screened to select specimens obtained from uninfected cells.
In conclusion, cell cloning presents a promising mechanism for not only developing new varieties but also for industrial cultivation of products. If cultivation conditions are properly prepared, isolated cells can be more productive than the plants themselves. Increasing the productivity of protoplasts or plant cells often results from their immobilization.
