Agriculture Biotechnology in the world

Agriculture Biotechnology

Muhammad Royyan Fais
4401415047
Aulia Febriasari
4401415100
Laila Nur Sa’adah
4401415102

Introduction


Agricultural biotechnology
includes a range of tools
that scientists employ to
understand and
manipulate the genetic
make-up of organisms for
use in the production or
processing of agricultural
products.


Background




Damage to plants due to pests and diseases
Environmental contamination due to excess pesticides
and herbicides
Food demand increases as population increases and
limited agricultural land

Crown Gall Disease


Agrobacterium vitis is the
primary causal agent of crown
gall worldwide, determined by
a large conjugal tumorinducing (Ti) plasmid.
However, tumorigenic and

nontumorigenic strains of A.
vitis may carry other
important plasmids through T
DNA.

What are the new products of
agricultural biotechnology?


Herbicide tolerant
crops, e.g., Roundup
Ready soybeans and
corn and Liberty Link
corn

What are the new products of
agricultural biotechnology?


Insect resistant crops

commercially available,
e.g., Bt corn, cotton,
and potatoes

Bt gene is
inserted
into crop

What are the new products of
agricultural biotechnology?



Identity-preserved or specificattribute crops (vaccines,
higher oil or starch content,
additional amino acids)

The Green Revolution







A program of the mid and late 20th century to find a
way to produce higher quantity and quality food
Purpose was to increase crop output per unit area –
more efficient land and techniques
Began with a new breed of wheat in the 1940s that
produced 5x as much product, while resisting wind
and disease.
Other LDCs followed path by planting breeds of rice
and wheat that were much more successful

The Good and the Bad


Advantages
– Saved millions from starvation
– Can reuse cultivated land, instead of cutting down trees

to make more farmland, slowing the rate of
deforestation & helping keep higher numbers of
biodiversity

The Good and the Bad


Disadvantages
– Extensive use of water, fertilizers, pesticides and fossil
fuels caused pollution, salinization, and desertification
– Monoculture has decreased biodiveristy and narrowed
the human diet.
– Allergic

The Future of the Green Revolution







Overall food production has outpaced human
population growth, but grain crops have declined
under the world’s need.
Land is less productive, therefore grains do not grow
as well
Though food security is based on distribution, it may
eventually become driven by production
Solutions: genetic engineering, organic agriculture

Recent Issue

“More than half (57%) of U.S. adults believe
that Genetically Modified foods are generally
unsafe to eat.”

Recent Issue
The FDA states on its website that “GE plant varieties
marketed to date are as safe as comparable, non-GE
foods.” And after thoroughly reviewing all the available

evidence on GE crop safety, a National Academy of
Sciences report concluded that “no differences have
been found that implicate a higher risk to human
health and safety from these GE foods than from their
non-GE counterparts.”
That same conclusion has been reached by other
respected scientific and regulatory bodies, including the
European Commission and the World Health Organization.